Intelligence Flashcards
Boring (1923) Definition of Intelligence
Intelligence is what tests test
Weschler’s (1975) definition of intelligence
The capacity of a person to understand the world and meet its demands
Intelligence as a property of the brain:
- Eysenck
- Jenson
Eysenck – transmission accuracy
Jenson – neural speed
Intelligence as behaviour
- Anastassi
- Estes
Anastassi: Not an entity within the organism but a quality of behaviour
Estes: adaptive behaviour of an individual
Can still be measured and ranked
Term adaptive is vague
Intelligence as ID ability and skill:
- Anderson
- Holyoack
Anderson: people differ in their range of skills and the quality of each skill
Holyoak: success depends upon possession of appropriate schemas
Hard to measure
Nature – nurture
Structure of intelligence ≠ origin
What is IQ?
IQ: age-standardised intelligence
Standardised raw test scores rescaled:
IQ scores have been re-scaled to have the centre point (mean) = 100 IQ points, and a standard deviation of 15 IQ points.
What is g?
g: underlying cause of intelligence
Spearman - Mental energy/power
Popularly viewed as the only ability worth testing
Single Factor Theories - Spearman
Performance at mental tasks correlated Every mental task determined by g Correlations not perfect Performance = g + s Specific (s) is unique to a task. Does not predict other tasks. Useless for general predictions.
What is s?
s = a specific intelligence
Hierarchical Theories - Burt (1940s)
Developed with statistical techniques
g predicts reasonably well
Some tasks need specific abilities
Performance = g + specific ability + s
Burt: g at the top of the hierarchy
g = sum total of more specific abilities e.g. arithmetical ability
specific ability = sum total of s’s for that ability e.g. algebra
Cattell & Horn (1970s)’s 5 higher order abilities
gf Fluid Intelligence gc Crystallised Intelligence gv Visualisation gr Retrieval Fluency gs Cognitive Speed
Cattell & Horn (1970s) identifies how many primary factors of intelligence?
27
Cattell & Horn (1970s)’s 2 types of general intelligence (gi)?
fluid and crystallised
Features of Fluid intelligence
Domain-free reasoning ability Tests should not have cultural bias gf closely linked to g Thinking abstractly Independent of learning Thought to decline with age
Features of Crystallised intelligence
Domain-specific skills/knowledge
Involves knowledge from past learning
Based on facts and experience
Tests will have cultural bias
Multiple Ability Theories
Thurstone (1930s) - 7 Primary Mental Abilities (WAISS)
Assumes g does not exist
Primary Mental Abilities: 1 Verbal comprehension 2 Numerical ability 3 Perceptual speed 4 Spatial visualisation 5 Verbal fluency 6 General reasoning 7 Memory
Guilford (1960s) proposed intelligence was the result of how many independent abilities?
120 (later updated to 150)
Crits: Categories not grounded in cognition or psychometrics, used homogeneous samples (basketball players)
Gardner (1993)’s Eight separate intelligences
Skills and talents isolated
1 Logical-mathematical 2 Linguistic 3 Spatial 4 Musical 5 & 6 Personal (x2) 7 Bodily-kinesthetic 8 Naturalistic (added later)
Contextual Theories (IDs) - Ceci, Howe, Richardson
Numbers provide no worthwhile measure of what people can do
Everyone behaves intelligently in his/her own context
Nobody behaves intelligently outside of his/her own context
Performance predicted by knowledge, and learning by motivation
Psychometrics tests
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RAVEN’S PROGRESSIVE MARTICIES
WAIS, WISC, BSID (infant), Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scales
RPM - Measures the ability to generate, transform, and manipulate different types of novel information in real time = a non-verbal estimate of fluid intelligence gf
